KANTOREI
Mount Royal Kantorei, is set to take the stage in Cork, Ireland, to compete for one of the most coveted trophies in choral singing, the Fleischmann International Trophy. The auditioned, 82-person, mixed voice choir, which is Mount Royal Conservatory’s flagship chorus, will compete for the prize at the 70th annual Cork Inter national Choral Festival next year. They will be up against some of the best amateur choirs in the world, with previous winners hailing from Finland, Estonia, USA, and Slovenia.
John Morgan, Mount Royal Kantorei’s Artistic Director, says the competition will be a milestone in the choir’s 30-year history.
“Kantorei is one of the most exciting classical choirs in Canada with an incredibly diverse range of voices, personalities, and singers who unite their voices in a shared love of traditional and contemporary classical choral music. An age gap of more than fifty years separates our youngest and oldest vocalists, proving the power of music to bring people together. We cannot wait to come together with other choirs from all over the world to compete for the Fleischmann International Trophy next year,” he said.
“2025 marks Kantorei’s 30th anniversary year - the choir was founded in 1995 and our choristers have performed more than 700 pieces of music in that time. Competing in Cork will be one of the highlights in our choral history, he continued. “We hope to make Calgary, and Canada, proud.”
JOHN MORGAN
John has a passion for music education and performance and believes in bringing out the best in musicians, vocal groups and individual artists he works with by creating a working environment that fosters learning, creativity, musical development, collaboration, and fun. He focuses on directing multi-genre vocal groups, as well as delivering full-service music direction for local artists, corporations and events through his studio Morgan Music in Calgary. He is a conductor, organist, pianist, recording engineer and published composer and arranger whose work has been performed by groups across North America. In addition to his work with Mount Royal Kantorei, John is the Artistic Director of Revv52, a 52-voice auditioned pop vocal group known for its innovative music videos and immersive performances. He also serves as the Vocal Director of the Young Canadians, a 120-member auditioned vocal and dance group, and the Music Director and Organist at St. Anthony’s Church.
MARY BUCKLEY
Mary was an elementary classroom teacher and music specialist for more than thirty years. Accompanying has also been an important part of her musical activities. She directed and accompanied her own elementary school choirs throughout her teaching career.
At present she is the accompanist for the choir at St Gerard’s Catholic Church, and has accompanied for Mount Royal Kantorei since 2013. Mary enjoys the opportunity to enrich her musical experiences through learning new and challenging music with Mount Royal Kantorei.
KANOTREI – LIST OF MEMBERS
Hrafn Haugr
Jacob Bowe
Sara Saba
Tyler Walmsley
Arlan Anderson
Ricardo Avelar
Carol Bartel Nickel
Alan Born
Lynne Brinkworth
Michael Bruch
John Bullas
Amanda Burke
Mary Campbell
Susan Chambers
Michael Chase
Alexander Chumley
Ronald Chune
Lisa Collins
Twylla Jayne Conn
Gunnar DeBruijn
Sheri DeBruijn
Jacee Decker
Penny Dejager
Christopher Downey
Nazneen Doyle
Adam Elkestawi
Nikolas Emmer
Peter Exner
Donna Flotre
Rebecca Frederick
Constance Friesen
Heather Gamber
Cristina Garcia
Helen Goodchild
Richard Gorecki
Alexandra Guebert
Joelle Haney
Christin Hilbert Hardock
Christine Horne
Olga Latapi
Kailey Lee
Sylvie Linteau
Bobbi Lintner
Anne Livesey-Husak
Eunice Loudon
Mark Louie
Stephanie Macdonald
Ondrea Mann
David Matthies
Corinne McDonald
Freya Melax
Ken Melax
Julian Miranda
Rachel Miranda
Hannah Mitchell
Laila Moos
Meraka Moulton
Orlean Muirhead
Jennifer Nakaska
Louise Neufeld
Shelli Orton
Emily Peterson
Nicola Pieterse
Anne Pozzi
Sabrina Reed
Laverne Rude
Lisa Rude
Christian Savard
Evelyn Scheibli
Mike Schuett
Roy Schultz
Dwight Smith
Feckla Spaulding
Kayleigh Suggett
Dean Taggart
Dree Thomson
Frances Vettergreen
Beth Walmsley
Diane Ward
Laurel Ward
Farron Wielinga
Peter Wong
Tom Wong
Robert Woodward
Stephen Wright
THE HEEBEE JEEBEES
The Heebee-jeebees are a 4-man Canadian comic a cappella quartet formed in 1993 to meet girls, who have over the past 30 years sung thousands of perfor mances, appeared on local, national and international radio, television and print. The group has a reputation for being hilarious, entertaining and extremely talented. The Heebee-jeebees have released nine recordings, all to international recognition including 4 CARA nominations and 2 CARA Awards (the Grammy's of a cappella). They have won the Canadian Championships of Harmony twice, as well as multiple Championships in the USA. They were inducted into the Canadian A Cappella Hall of Fame and have inspired many other groups to form & quit. The Heebee-jeebees continue to impress and entertain audiences across North America and are considered the very best of comedic a cappella entertainment.
LIST OF MEMBERS
Jonathan "J-Lo" Love
Chris "Herard" Herard
Cédric "Sedge" Blary
Ken "KennyV" Lima-Coelho
CALGARY YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Considered to be the flagship ensemble of the Mount Royal University Conservatory, the Calgary Youth Orchestra is recognized as one of the finest youth orchestras in the country. Under its music director, Edmond Agopian, the CYO has toured Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and New Zealand. The CYO was honoured to perform for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Calgary in May 2005, and for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, at the Saddledome in 2009.
The orchestra has commissioned works from a number of composers, most recently Canadian composers Michael van der Sloot, George Fenwick, Laurie Radford and Scott RossMolyneux. The CYO has also presented the world premieres of works by Claude Debussy, completed and orchestrated by the renowned English musicologist Robert Orledge.
The CYO has worked with such illustrious conductors as Roberto Minczuk, Mario Ber nardi, Bramwell Tovey, Ivars Taurins, Jean Lamon, Andrés Cárdenes and Hans Graf, among others.
The orchestra has performed in collaboration with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and with Jeunesse Classique Ballet, at festivals throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, and on-stage at the 2008 Juno Awards. CYO alumni can be found in such world-renowned ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well as all major Canadian orchestras.
EDMOND AGOPIAN, MUSIC DIRECTOR
A violin graduate of the Juilliard School, Edmond Agopian began his studies in his native Romania. In 1991, he relinquished his post at Acadia University to take up positions as Professor of Violin and Conductor at the University of Calgary, and Artist-in- Residence at Mount Royal Conservatory. He was appointed Music Director of the Calgary Youth Orchestra in 2002.
He has been awarded the Calgary Arts Award, and the Alberta Centennial Medal “in recognition of outstanding achievement and service to the people and province of Alberta”. At the University of Calgary, he was awarded the John Peter Lee Roberts Distinguished Professorship in Fine Arts.
As a violinist, he has been featured on regional and national CBC, French and English radio programs, Radio Europa, and as soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. He is First Violin of the University of Calgary String Quartet in Residence, whose recording on the American label MSR Classics has received enthusiastic reviews from radio broadcasters and magazines, including Fanfare Magazine (USA). Conducting work has included performances with the Canadian Chamber Orchestra (conductor and concertmaster), the Shanghai Opera Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, and conductor and soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. His Sundogs CD recording with the University of Calgary Orchestra, of Canadian orchestral music, was described by one critic as a “hands-down winner”. Under his direction, the Calgary Youth Orchestra has toured, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and New Zealand.
For thirteen seasons he was Music Director/Concertmaster of Calgary’s professional string orchestra, the Kensington Sinfonia and for twenty years he was on the faculty of the Morningside Music Bridge International Music Festival at Mount Royal University Conservatory, in Beijing, Shanghai, and Gdansk, Poland.
His violin method The No Time to Practice Technique Companion has been on the SHAR Music Company’s Bestseller List since 2002 and has been positively reviewed in the American String Teacher magazine. His students have won local, national and international awards, including the Rose Bowl – Calgary Performing Arts Festival, and are members of major orchestras, including four violinists in the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
CALGARY YOUTH ORCHESTRA – LIST OF MEMBERS
VIOLIN 1
Avery Krahn^ (evening)
Yana Zubrytska^ (afternoon)
Carissa Bai
Maya Brideaux
Ana Gonzales
Isaac Hobel
Evan Jung
Josef Kim
Conan Li
Aedan Lowry
Chanan Ngo
Serafina Oliva
Isaac Pang
Mira Scullen
Briana Seo
Luca Todea
Megan Wang
Josephine Wen
Annabel Zhu
VIOLIN 2
Jinqi Hu*
Alexander Bilson
Finn Brosseau
Emma Heung
Emily Jang
Audrey Lee
Hao An Li
Jadyn Li
Oliver Linton
Eleanor Lipkind
Chloe Luo
Michelle Mah
Jessica Muchiri
Eden Swalm
Aiden Wong
Selina Zhang
VIOLA
Sophie Ryskine*
Hannele Agbunag
Zephram Gilson
Emily Gu
Tanya Ma
Elena Swalm
Patrick Vu
CELLO
Aaron Janse-Deng*
Tai Shishiba*
Mateo Barcan
Aniya Brar Ahmed
Malcolm Clarke
Gabe Cook
Curtis Fok
Matias Francese
Ian Guo
Teaghan Krahn
Eva Martino
Arthur Xu
Phoebe Xu
BASS
Madeleine Ryan*
Reiss Challoner
FLUTE
Sweta Babladi
Leyla Calderon
Grace Chang
Bella Nguyen
Madyson Singleton
Rhianna Stafford
Paul Xu
OBOE
Sasha Adderley*
CLARINET
Alexander Sunie*
Ethan Yang
BASSOON
Michael Weaver*
HORN
Sonia Sward*
Jonathan Kennedy*
Shellbie Chayeski*
Nolan Asplund
TRUMPET
Federico Martino*
Maxim Oleshko*
Robert Lin
TROMBONE
Charlie Reid*
Henno Johnson
BASS TROMBONE
Ben Kyba
TUBA
Omari Holaki
PERCUSSION
Sydney Ball
Eric Chan
Jasmine Shuen
HARP
Ariya Yospanya
^denotes Concertmaster * denotes Principal